It has been around a decade since the last time we could regard AC Milan as a genuinely elite team. In the time since then, they have slipped to as low as 10th in Serie A, made ill-advised signing after ill-advised signing, and hired coaches whose tenures can only be described as abject failures.
However, after many years of suffering, Milan might be in line for a first Serie A title since the 2010-11 season. The Rossoneri's 2-1 victory over Roma kept them level on points with Napoli at the top of the league. Milan only trail their rivals from Campania on goal difference. Milan managed to hang on to the victory even after Theo Hernandez received a red card; earlier goals scored by Zlatan Ibrahimović and Franck Kessié were enough to deliver Milan a 10th victory in 11 league matches.
Milan's success thus far has been built on the back of an extremely fruitful off-season. They proceeded from their second-place league finish last season by signing Mike Maignan and Olivier Giroud while also bringing in Brahim Díaz on loan from Real Madrid. Additionally, they made Fikayo Tomori and Sandro Tonali full-time Milan players; prior to this season, they had been there on loan.
Unlike those of previous seasons, the new arrivals at the San Siro fit seamlessly into the team structure. Tomori started the match against Roma while Tonali and Giroud entered proceedings as substitutes; regardless, all three once again showed that the club undoubtedly made the right decision to sign them. Tomori's signing for €28.5 million from Chelsea did initially raise some eyebrows as the English defender had not made much of an impact during his time at the London club. However, it is now obvious that Milan signed Tomori at the perfect time - right as he was about to emerge as a player worthy of being a starter on a league title contender.
In total, Milan spent €74.9 million on new signings this past off-season - not a massive amount when one considers the fact that they brought in 13 players either permanently or on loan.
Another factor which makes Milan's success thus far even more remarkable is the departure of goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma. At just 22, Donnarumma was already Milan's best player when he left the club to sign for Paris Saint-Germain as a free agent. Despite this, Milan have retooled so well that they are obviously far better this season than last. Even in goal, Milan's signing of Maignan has been enough to keep things moving along smoothly. On top of that, Maignan's recent wrist injury forced second-choice goalkeeper Ciprian Tătăruşanu to take over as the starter. Even that has not stalled their title chase in the slightest.
Head coach Stefano Pioli also deserves tremendous credit. When he arrived at the club in 2019, Milan had not qualified for the Champions League in six years. Their most recent title had been the 2011 Scudetto. Since taking over at Milan, Pioli has completely transformed this team. The evidence of the excellent job he has done can be seen in last season's results. Milan's 2020-21 league campaign was their best in nine years despite having a team which most would have expected to finish ahead of Juventus, Napoli, or Roma, among others.
On top of that, this is a young Milan team with plenty of room for growth. Many of their key pieces such as Tonali, Díaz, Rafael Leão, and Kessié are under the age of 25. With another savvy signing or two, do not be surprised if Milan are a legitimate Champions League contender within the next two or three seasons.
The off-season departures of former head coach Antonio Conte and superstar centre-forward Romelu Lukaku from Inter Milan once again made AC Milan the stronger of the two Milan clubs - a position they had not occupied for many years. However, now that a power vacuum exists at the top of Serie A following the respective declines of Inter and Juve, the opportunity for AC Milan is ripe for the picking.
Nevertheless, regardless of how this season ends, the balance of power in the city of Milan has decisively swung back to the red and black half - and it may remain there for quite some time, too.
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